Bighorn Mountain Country Adventure / Great Hiking

Located in both Wyoming and Montana, the Big Horns are one of America’s most scenic and pristine mountain regions. Big Horn Mountain Country has something for everyone–whether you’re an outdoor recreation enthusiast, sightseer, traveler or merely wish to kick back and relax. The scenery and the terrain, the pristine air, and natural mountain beauty of the Big Horns offer a place to leave back that hustle and bustle of the city.

Hunting, camping, fishing and boating are popular in the Bighorn Mountains.

Hiking Through the Bighorns 

Bighorn Lake in the southern district

There are many hiking trails throughout the Big Horn Mountains and Bighorn National Forest. The location is also advantageous for your summer vacation itinerary as the mountains are about half way between Yellowstone National Park and Mount Rushmore. Mountain lakes, grassy pasture land and alpine meadows are all a part of this region.

Hike Bighorn Canyon

Bighorn Canyon is located northwest of Sheridan,Wyoming and south/southeast of Billings, Montana.

Billings is about 86 miles from the Bighorn Canyon Recreational Area. Sheridan, Wyoming is about 111 miles away. Both communities are just a few hours drive.

Bighorn Canyon is ideal for hiking.. These trails offer great  scenery and peaceful settings. They also offer a real natural way to explore this region. Some trails go through historic ranches while others take visitors to scenic vistas. The trail system offer hikers a great way to see this region as well as a way to make your visit here longer, and longer is good.

Bighorn Canyon Recreational Area offers over 27 miles of trails.There are thirteen trails long and short. Some of these will take you through historic ranches and others will treat you to scenic vistas. One thing to note is that the NPS does not allow dogs on the hiking trails in the Bighorn Canyon Recreational Area.

According to the NPS, Bighorn Canyon is home to bighorn sheep, mule deer, wild horses, mountain lions, black bears, and many other animals.

The natural beauty of Bighorn Country

There are five campgrounds within this recreation area.....

They are the Afterbay Campground, the Black Canyon Campground, the Horseshoe Bend Campground, the Trail Creek Campground and the Medicine Creek Campground.

Hike Bighorn Lake 

The creation of Bighorn Lake goes back to 1965 when the Yellow Tail Dam was constructed. The lake spans an amazing 71 miles through the Bighorn Canyon. Here you'll see 1,000 foot high cliffs rising from the lake. The lake is beautiful and boating and fishing are popular activities. Boat rentals are offered.

You may also enjoy the Western Trips travel posts on the links below.....

Killdeer Mountain Four Bears Scenic Byway / North Dakota 

Follow the Old Butterfield Stagecoach Route Through Texas

Mountain Bike Riding in the Western U.S.

Travel to Bighorn Country  

Scenic Red Rocks in Bighorn Country

Bighorn Country is in both Wyoming and Montana, relatively close to both Sheridan, Wyoming and Billings, Montana. Both of these towns are known for their local events which brings in plenty of tourists.

Sheridan's Wyoming Rodeo, Wine Fest, Brew Fest and concerts are just some of the events. Look for the 3rd Thursday Summer Street Festivals.The festival is on Sheridan's historic Main Street and you'll enjoy music and food and the many unique shops in downtown Sheridan, Wyoming. Thousands attend these four summer festivals.


Billings is the largest city in Montana and draws thousands of tourists annually. Such attractions as Yellowstone National Park, the Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument, and Cody, Wyoming are not far from Billings. Also, don't miss the Yellowstone County Museum in Billings. The annual fall rodeo at the Metra in Billings draws big-time cowboys and cowgirls. Billings, Montana is also known for it's ArtWalk and it's galleries. For more information on Billings ArtWalk see website.....http://www.artwalkbillings.com/

Bighorn Country and it's beautiful Bighorn Mountains offer plenty of fun recreational and travel activities. From hiking, bicycling, boating, fishing, camping and the nearby festivals and events in Billings, Montana and Sheridan, Wyoming, your visit to this area should be a great time for the entire family.

Two good books regarding the Bighorn Mountains and hiking trails includes.....Hiking Wyoming's Cloud Peak Wilderness (Regional Hiking Series) by Erik Molvar and Hiking Montana: A Guide to the State's Greatest Hikes by Bill Schneider and Russ Schneider.


(Article copyright Western Trips. Photos in the public domain)

Montana Ranches / The XIT

The famous XIT Ranch in the Texas Panhandle was one of the largest cattle ranches in the world. The very existence of this ranch and the 3 million plus acres it consisted of was responsible for the building of the Texas state capitol building in Austin. Texas was in great need for a new capitol building and the funds necessary for it's construction were acquired by selling this large acreage in the Panhandle region. The acreage was so vast that the XIT ranch range was between twenty and thirty miles in width.

Visit the XIT Museum

American cowboy, circa 1888

If your western road trip happens to take you to the Texas Panhandle region, a stop at the XIT Museum in Dalhart Texas is a good addition to your Texas vacation planner.

Dalhart is located about 85 miles northwest of Amarillo at the junction of Hwy 54 and Hwy 385.The XIT Museum was built in 1952, about forty years after the ranch ceased operations. Exhibits at the museum tell the story of life on the ranch, the large influence the railroad had in building the Panhandle settlements and the story of the county sheriffs who tried to keep law and order in a booming ranching region. The XIT Museum is also very involved in educational programs for students.

The XIT in Montana

Being a part of the Montana ranches is an interesting part of the XIT Ranch history. What was often overlooked was the XIT expansion north into the Wyoming and Montana area. This area specifically was ground zero during the Sioux War about a decade prior. This was the country where the Custer's Battle of the Little Bighorn took place in June of 1876.

 It was only after the Sioux War concluded and the Indians were on reservations that the cattlemen even had the opportunity to graze their herds this far north. Cattlemen had been aware for some time of the good grazing grasses found in Montana and Wyoming. The XIT entered Montana when John V. Farwell, head of the Capitol Syndicate, a group of British investors who owned the XIT, bought a ranch in 1890 in Custer County Montana, about sixty-five miles north of present day Miles City. This was the headquarters for the Montana XIT and to this was added 2 million leased acres.

The northern end of the XIT range was the Missouri River and the southern border the Yellowstone. Ten thousand head of steers were then sent north out of Texas. The difference of course for the cowboy was that there was little to do during the winter months until spring although most cowboys stayed in the XIT bunkhouses during the off season.

Old time cattle branding in the American west

You will find our article at tripsintohistory.com  Cattle Drives and Cowboys interesting as it separates the truth from the fiction as to the everyday life of the western American cowboy.

The excellent book, Historic Ranches of the Old West, by author Bill O'Neal, points out the opportunities the Montana cowboys enjoyed over their XIT Texas counterparts. By the 1890's the XIT Texas ranch was fenced and cross fenced. Open range ranching however was still going on in Montana and this appealed to many Montana cowboys.

Open Range Ranching

The open range method of ranching was disappearing rather fast and the Montana set up allowed cowboys to relive the way ranching was first conducted. Author O'Neal also points out the the massive XIT Ranch at it's peak in Montana had about 65,000 steers and 1,000 cows on the range. The cows were used for beef at the line camps. Another terrific book regarding the old ranches of the American west is The Cattle Kings, by author Lewis Atherton. Atherton goes into detail about the Montana cattle operations and the Montana Club.

The Montana Club was like many other private cattlemen clubs in the west except in Montana mining was very important thus the Montana Club was comprised of operators of both mines and ranches.Today, The Montana Club Building in Helena, Montana is the oldest private members only Club West of the Mississippi still in operation. The club began in 1893. The Original Montana Club had a library, card rooms, and reception rooms. The building was burned in a 1903 fire and was rebuilt the same year.The new building was designed by architect Cass Gilbert. If your western trip takes you to Montana, The Montana Club is located at 24 West Sixth Avenue Helena, MT.

See our Western Trips article on the link below...

A Little Known Old Wild West Show / Buckskin Bill

The Oncoming Settlers

XIT Cowboys, 1891

After the turn of the century, even the old Sioux lands in Montana were beginning to see more and more settlers arrive. This had been a steady process and by 1909 settlers were encroaching on the XIT's leased range.

In addition to this, the XIT land was being sold part by part in Texas. The XIT owners, the Capitol Syndicate, had always planned for the eventual Texas land sell off which would pay off bond holders. This was a major part of the original business plan for the ranch. As more Texas land was being sold to settlers, the cattle count dropped and the need for sending cattle northward to Montana ceased. In October 1909, the XIT Montana operations sold off the last of their holdings in the region.

The XIT Ranch sold off the last of it's Texas cattle in November of 1912 and shortly after that the last of it's property was sold.

(Article copyright Western Trips. Photos and images in the public domain)

Beartooth Highway

Running across the Beartooth Mountains of Montana is one of the finest and scenic National Byways of the northwest. The Beartooth Highway, a National Scenic Byway. If your western road trip takes you to this part of the country, you'll want to consider adding this drive to your vacation planner. The Beartooth Highway features the scenery of twenty mountain peaks over 12,000 feet in elevation.

Driving the Beartooth Highway

Beartooth Highway switchbacks

The Beartooth Highway route will take you through high elevation zones, past mountain lakes and alpine tundra. When driving up through Beartooth Pass, the road goes above the tree line and takes you into through alpine terrain.

The Beartooth Highway is known to be the highest highway in the northern Rockies. The Scenic Byway will also offer entrance to Yellowstone National Park in it's northeast section along the Montana and Wyoming border. The Beartooth Highway is the a part of U.S. Hwy 212 and highway maps will show that  it runs between Red Lodge Montana and Cooke City Montana. (See Google Map below)


The History of a Scenic Byway


The history of the Beartooth National Scenic Byway is very interesting and it's origin dates back to 1872 and an expedition commander by General Phillip Sheridan. After inspecting Yellowstone with some 120 men, Sheridan followed a route related to him by a hunter. Although Sheridan was advised against accepting this advice he did decide to try it and some two days later, despite extremely deep snow and even forest fires, Sheridan's troops completed the first crossing of the Beartooth Mountains. The group came out near present day Red Lodge, Montana. 

The Beartooth Highway opened in the year 1936 after about five years of construction and when you drive this route today you are essentially following the same route that Sheridan and his men took in 1882. The route was made a National Scenic Byway in 1989.

The regions economy relied heavily on coal mining. The mining industry there grew not long after Sheridan's travels through the Beartooth Mountains. Excellent coal deposits had originally been identified as far back as 1866 and gold was discovered there in 1870. Gold mining fuels the great boom in Montana during the late 1860's and 1870's. The old Bozeman Trail was one of the busiest routes into Montana from Wyoming during the late 1860's.

An Historic Region

Beartooth Highway scenery

During this period of the late 1860's, prospectors and pioneers traveled the Bozeman Trail and eventually resulted in a conflict called Red Cloud's War. A treaty was signed with the Crow Indians in 1882 which allowed the area to be successfully settled.

Red Lodge Montana also received it's first U.S. Post Office in 1884. Red Lodge Montana today is the county seat of Carbon County Mountain. As an interesting side note, Red Lodge Montana experienced a hard time during the Great Depression of the 1930's and mining ceased up and the town was then known as a large manufacturer of bootleg liquor. The liquor produced at Red Lodge was distributed far and wide and into the larger cities of the east.

Points of Interest

The Bear Tooth

Some of the points of interest you'll want to make note of in your trip planner include Lake Creek Falls at an elevation of over 7,000 feet. The 200 foot wide falls is a spectacular site.

Also check out the Top of The World Store which is along the highway's highest elevation at just under 11,000 feet. At Top of the World Store, drivers can rest up and replenish their food and fuel supplies. Another noteworthy and scenic site is the actual Bears Tooth. It's name was derived from the Crow Indians and was formed by glaciation. The Bear Tooth of course is also the namesake of the Bear Mountains themselves.

The Hellroaring Plateau will also be a great addition to your Montana trip planner. This area is above 10,000 feet in elevation and the area includes beautiful mountain lakes, alpine scenery and glaciated canyons. One of the most beautiful areas in North America.

Touring Montana

Beartooth Mountains Twin Lakes

The state of Montana identifies six different tourism regions. These are the Glacier Country, Russell Country, Missouri River Country, Southeast Montana, Yellowstone Country and the Goldwest Country.

All of these regions are historic and can be a part of a terrific western vacation adventure.  You can visit sites going back to the Battle of the Little Bighorn and visit the famous Montana Gold Rush towns such as Virginia City. You can take a canoe down the wild and scenic Missouri River and fishing the streams of Montana is always popular for anglers.

Four additional articles you'll find interesting and make good vacation additions. A story about the smokejumpers and the Smokejumpers Museum ..Driving California State Rte 49 ...the Old Spanish Trail Highway from Florida to California and the. Chief Joseph Scenic Byway .

There's another unique opportunity for cyclists on the Beartooth Highway. There's a short period in the spring between when the snow crews clear the passes and open the gates for automobile traffic. Cyclists find that during this time they essentially have all of the roadway to themselves without concern for motorized vehicles.

The highway will typically see thousands of cyclists on the road during this short period. If you love cycling, this may be something to take note of.

Montana offers a wide variety of vacation destinations and activities. You may find scenic and historic Montana an excellent addition to your western road trip planner.

(Photos are from the public domain)


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The Western Frontier Women / Life on the Ranch

Montana cattle roundup

The big ranches of the American West grew in both size and number during the years right after the end of the American Civil War. Not that there were no ranches prior to this. What was probably the largest ranch in the world in the late 1850's was the enormous King Ranch in the corner of southeast Texas, south of Corpus Christie. In the case of Mr. Richard King and his King Ranch, he was a bit caught up in the events of the Civil War.

Texas was on the side of the Confederacy during the war and so was King, or at least he knew he'd better be considering where he was residing. King's ranch was raided several times by Union forces in Texas considering it a stopping off site for traveling and resupply for southern forces. In fact, Union forces arrived at one time with orders for his arrest. Supposedly King had been tipped off on the raid and was nowhere to be seen when the Union officers arrived at his ranch.

The King Ranch in southeastern Texas and the XIT Ranch in the Texas Panhandle were the two largest ranches in Texas and both have very unique stories about how they came to be. Life in the old west was quite different than in the cities of the latter 1800's.

The Frontier Woman

Colorado Trail Drive, 1898

So much has been written concerning famous and/or infamous women of the American west that the life of the average hard working frontier women has been largely ignored.

Women on the frontier made significant contributions. There are some interesting stories about the introduction of women on the American western frontier and particularly as wives of ranchers. These were not what one might consider women cowgirls. These women of the old west weren't involved in stagecoach robberies like Pearl Hart in Arizona and they weren't noted for frontier scouting among other things such as with Calamity Jane and they didn't hang out with known outlaws like Belle Starr.

What the frontier woman did do was work hard in difficult settings and contributed in a big way to the civilizing of the west. To understand the settling of the American frontier outside of Hollywood stereotypes, a look at how the wives of ranch owners adapted to their new surroundings is quite enlightening. The presence of someone in the old west who could cause a cowboy to act more gentlemanly had to be appreciated.

For the most part, women married to ranchers were brought into the frontier "after" the male established himself. Conditions were rough in the decade after the Civil War and the man striving to get a herd together and start a ranch had all he could do to provide suitable living conditions for himself. Most aspiring ranchers thought the conditions just too harsh and dangerous for their wife or new bride. The idea at the time was to establish oneself in the ranching industry and then return to one's hometown to find yourself a bride, or if you had a wife, make arrangements to take her out west. This was the beginning of adventure for many a frontier woman.

Mrs. Charles Goodnight

In the book "Cattle Kings" by author Lewis Atherton,several good observations were made as to the type of woman that a rancher seemed to gravitate towards. For the most part, they seemed to chose a like minded wife. The rancher himself was a strong individualist, one of the reasons he got into ranching in the first place, and many times this was the type of partner they preferred.

Cowgirl Lucille Mulhall

A good example was Charles Goodnight, one of the more successful ranchers in the Texas Panhandle region. Prior to ranching in Texas, Goodnight established a ranch in Colorado and married for the first time only after that ranch was up and running. Mrs. Goodnight was an adventuresome pioneer woman and the ranch life in Colorado seemed to satisfy her. Unfortunately, the financial panic of 1873 pretty much bankrupted Goodnight and while he took care of all his debts he sent his wife to live in California.

His plans were to bring her back when he reestablished himself at another location. He did reestablish himself in the Texas Panhandle at Palo Duro Canyon, a fairly remote area, and wished for her to hold back until he could make the living arrangements a bit more civilized. To this request she refused. When she arrived at the new ranch after a long hard overland journey, she found that the nearest female ranch woman was some eighty miles away.

Not shying away from adventure it seems that Mrs. Goodnight spent much of her time as a frontier woman patching the clothes of cowboys and tending to the quite small and non-luxurious home. What's quite interesting is that Mrs. Goodnight did indeed enjoy adventure and didn't shy away from the hardship such remote living naturally brings. A woman who chose this way of life did so without guarantees. The hope was that after a few years of very hard work in inhospitable surroundings, prosperity would eventually come and the days ahead would be better. Some ranch women did attain this and some others did not. This is why a ranch owner needed a certain kind of wife. One who was willing to take on the same gamble.

The Frontier Woman Helped In the Success

Cheyenne Cowgirl poster

How successful a rancher was pretty much dictated what the rancher's wife had to endure. Pioneer women were met with a variety of circumstances. The wives of some of the bigger ranchers no doubt had workers present who do a lot of the chores for them. If that wasn't the case, then a ranch woman might a life filled with drudgery. Cooking, sewing, fetching what water was available for washing and in many cases helping her husband with regular cowboy duties could be a typical day in some ranch women's life. It really was a life of voluntary sacrifice with the hope of better days ahead. In a sense, the pioneer women were taking a big gamble.

Another western rancher of the post Civil War era was George Littlefield. The ranch was in the area of Gonzales Texas.

In the year 1869 the Littlefields were struggling earning about $150 per year by farming. Littlefield was an ex Confederate officer and Mrs. Littlefield came from a southern plantation and was accustomed to the rural life. Becoming a frontier woman may not have represented that big of a change.

She lived a harsh life on the early farm but things changed dramatically after they became involved in cattle ranching. The Littlefields represented what the successful, and perhaps lucky, rancher could achieve. Over the early 1870's Littlefield drove cattle to Kansas rail heads and expanded his enterprise. Over the years he had several ranches throughout Texas and into New Mexico with the LIT being one of his biggest. At one time his cattle branded LFD grazed over an area of Eastern New Mexico the size of the state of Rhode Island.

George Littlefield's wife, the former Alice Payne Tillar, was one of the luckier frontier women who saw success after years of harsh living. Alice enjoyed being involved with philanthropy and probably was responsible in a large degree for George's many charitable contributions. They had two children but unfortunately both were lost during infancy. Most likely as a result of their misfortune with their own small family they were very close to his extended family, paying for the college education of all of his many nieces and nephews. The Littlefields employed many of the extended  family as managers in theirs many cattle ranching concerns.

Live and Let Live

The rancher was not only an individualist but likewise had a live and let live attitude. Societal norms were often a bit different away from urban life. Author Lewis Atherton in his aforementioned book, Cattle Kings, points out some instances where the frontier life didn't quite fit the lifestyle of a few ranch women who settled there.

A man by the name of Deacon Wade and his wife settled on a ranch very near Theodore Roosevelts' Maltese Cross property in the Dakota Territory. The Deacon and his eastern raised wife, now living a new life in the old west, insisted that people adhere to the customs back east even though they were now residing in the "wild west". The deacon's wife pretty much insisted that her social standards be adhered to by others, no matter what their social background was. The story goes that on one evening when she was hosting dinner for a group of neighbors including Roosevelt, Mrs. Wade insisted that the future president wear one of her husbands coats at dinner. It seems that Roosevelt, in the midst of the Dakota Territory, didn't feel a coat was necessary nor comfortable. Mrs. Wade of course insisted and the tale is that Roosevelt avoided her in the future. Eventually, the Wades, both husband and wife, found the wild west not to their social liking and returned to the east.

Mrs. Lang

Ladies Side Saddle (From author's collection)

There's another interesting example which is the opposite of the Wade's experience on the frontier. Another rancher by the name of Gregor Lang was a neighbor of the Wade's in the Dakota Territory. Lang's wife came from a well-to-do British middle class society which she left to make a life on the American frontier.

As they say, "the presence of women brought real civilization to the frontier". When the new frontier woman, Mrs. Lang, arrived on the Dakota ranch, the diet, grooming and language used by the cowboys, all improved greatly. The mere presence of a woman changed the working environment for the better. Mrs. Lang kept her British middle class habits but only extended them to those around her as an example rather than forcing her guests to conform. In other words, while setting a positive example she still maintained a live and let live attitude to others. While she encouraged better manners she never had the air of superiority. Everyone around her including the cowboys felt quite comfortable in her presence. She adjusted quite well to life in the old west. This was in stark contrast to the Wade's intolerance. This demonstrates the positive effect women played on the frontier as long as they respected the code of live and let live.

Ranchers seemed to enjoy more marriage stability than others in the west. Many believe that this was the result of the ranchers marrying those from their same social strata. It was important that ranch women shared the same ideals of their husbands. There were a good number of Europeans who not only invested in American ranching but also traveled to America to establish their own ranches. A man named Pierre Wibaux and his English wife built a ranch in the Dakota Territory. When he had to spend a winter in France on business, his wife was totally capable of running the ranch in his absence. This tells us that Mrs.Wibaux had the same individualist and adventuresome instincts as her husband. Without this compatible arrangement it's doubtful a marriage could have lasted on the ranching frontier.

Augusta Kruse

Grant-Kohrs Ranch, Montana

A good example of some frontier women adapting to western ranch life was the case of Augusta Kruse. The frontier woman Augusta Kruse married a Montana rancher by the name of Conrad Kohrs.

Kohrs first established his ranch in Montana and then traveled back east to marry Augusta who he had known previously when both lived in Europe. Although Augusta would be considered a city woman, she traveled out west with her new husband and seemed to adapt to the life fairly well. She took care of the household tasks, replaced the cook so she could assume that duty. Her first child was born without any professional medical assistance, but at the birth of the second, Conrad Kohrs, her husband, was in the position to pay $1,000 to bring a doctor to the ranch to supervise the delivery. The Kohrs couple were quite compatible on their ranch because they simply enjoyed the same things. Kohrs was a very successful rancher and this no doubt helped but without their common interests and Augusta's willingness to immerse herself in the household responsibilities their experience may have not been as pleasant.

Some Excellent Travel Stops

There are several very good sites in the west that can give you more understanding about the frontier female's contribution in helping to civilize a rather non-civilized environment. One excellent stop to add to your vacation trip planner is the Grant-Kohrs National Historic Site. This site is open year-round. Activities include guided tours of the main ranch house, ranger talks, exploring the ranch buildings, walking trails, and kids activities. The Grant-Kohrs Ranch is located directly off Interstate-90 midway between Yellowstone NP and Glacier NP in Deer Lodge Montana.

Another great place to add to your road trip planner is the Pioneer Museum of the Gallatin Historical Society in Bozeman Montana. The Pioneer Museum offers a variety of changing exhibits portraying earlier days in the Gallatin Valley.

In Oklahoma you will want to stop in at the Pioneer Woman Museum in Ponca City. The Pioneer Woman Museum highlights the history of women in Oklahoma and their influence on the development of the state and nation. Ponca City is located in north central Oklahoma. 18 miles south of the Kansas border.

(Article copyright Western Trips. Photos are public domain unless otherwise noted)

The Pulaski Tunnel Trail / Idaho

When your western U.S. road trip includes an Idaho vacation, there is a very historic trail called the Pulaski Tunnel Trail which not only tells a riveting story of what happened back in 1910 but also a story of a firefighting invention that was used to help save people in that year and is still in use today.

The Pulaski Trail Tunnel

Silver Valley's Kellogg Idaho, Courtesy Post Falls Man

The Pulaski Tunnel Trail starts about one mile south of scenic Wallace Idaho on Forest Service Road 456. The trail head is very well marked.

The trail offers a trip into history through the cool forest and past cascading water. There are interpretive markings along the way and to walk the trail and return usually takes about 2 to 3 hours. It's a chance to explore a great Idaho hiking trail and learn about what occurred there over 100 years ago. Wallace Idaho is located in far north Idaho on Interstate-90 in the beautiful Silver Valley.

Great Fires


The story goes back to the Great Fires of 1910 which engulfed the northwest, particularly in the Wallace Idaho and Montana areas. This was an era before smokejumpers and fire fighting tanker aircraft. It was a time when fire prevention in our nation's vast forests was not a high priority. It was also a time of railroad expansion and mostly unregulated logging which was cutting down our forests at a very fast rate.

The problem in 1910 was pretty much the same as in the late 1800's regarding the devastating fires in both Pestigo Minnesota and Hinckley Minnesota. The forests were being cut down at an alarming speed with no concern given about dry bits of timber being left to pile up until they were fuel waiting to ignite. Saw clippings and shavings were left on the forest floor and these too were excellent fuel for fires. All you would need to set things off would be a good prolonged drought with record high temperatures.

This prolonged hot dry spell was the setting for all three of these devastating fires. The source of ignition could be a simple as sparks from a passing train or lightning. While there had been crusaders for wise forest management, regulatory change and speeches and appeals were mostly falling on deaf ears. Countries in northern Europe had already adopted forest management techniques but the timber interests still held sway in the U.S. at the turn of the century. It would finally take another catastrophe and action at the highest levels of the federal government to force real regulatory change.

Early Fire Fighting Methods

Wallace after the fire

What were the methods in that era to fight fires? Not many. The accepted method was to dig trenches wide enough to try to contain an advancing fire and prevent it from leaping over to ignite more fuel. Today, when you see the measures taken in modern day fire fighting including the use of smokejumpers and tanker planes and how difficult even this is, you can appreciate how ineffective trench digging could be.


During the Great Fire of 1910 around Wallace Idaho there was total panic and confusion. People tried to leave towns by rail and in some cases even the trains caught fire. The Buffalo Soldiers were called from their nearby post in Montana to try to maintain order. Fire fighters who had been in the mountains with their primitive equipment were many times overtaken by the fast moving flames or found themselves trapped in caves that were having their oxygen sucked out by the fire. It was a life and death situation all around.

Ed Pulaski

Ed Pulaski, 1910

One man who had joined up with the very new U.S. Forest Service was Ed Pulaski.

Prior to joining the Forest Service, Pulaski worked many jobs such as with the railroad, mining and in ranching. In 1910 Pulaski was supervising his crew of fire fighters about 5 miles south of Wallace Idaho when the flames came raging toward them at a very fast rate. They were being chased by a backfire. Pulaski led his crew to an abandoned mine to escape the flames. By doing this Pulaski saved many lives. During this great fire Pulaski was credited with saving all but five of his 45 man crew.

Another key contribution Ed Pulaski made was the creation in 1911 of what we today know as the "Pulaski Axe". Sometimes it's referred to as the "Pulaski Tool".

Essentially it's a hand tool that is part axe and part hoe. In other words you can dig and cut with the same tool. It was an axe tool and a hoe tool all in one. Axe tools were needed to help fight wildland fires and you also needed a digging tool. It's widely believed that Pulaski, as a result of the 1910 fires, saw the need for better wildfire fighting equipment and invented this tool which is still in use today by the U.S.Forest Service. The tool is chiefly used to help construct firebreaks which is the way to contain a spreading fire. Some contend that a similar handle tool was actually invented in the 1870's but whether Ed invented or reinvented the tool, he is the one credited for bringing it to the Forest Service.

Pulaski Tool

In regards to the fire itself, it proved to be a wake up call for the government to pass regulations regarding the timber industry.

This was a time during which the Forest Service, established by President Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot, was in it's infancy. The Great Fire of 1910 which sometimes is referred to as the Great Idaho Fire helped provide additional needed funding for the Forest Service and bolstered the conservation efforts in our forest lands.

This great fire seemed to turn the tide in the way the government dealt with our precious natural resources. There was also a change in philosophy regarding wildfires. Aside from the need to protect towns and citizen's lives during wildfires, the old belief was to let them burn themselves out.

This too has changed whereby all fires are now fought. By the same token, forestry management progressed greatly. The more efficient and modern methods of course make this possible as compared to a century and more ago. Today's warning systems and mass communications usually prevent the heavy loss of life that occurred back in 1910 and the 1800's. Edward Pulaski's hand tool helped fire fighters in later years and is still a necessity for fighting wildfires in the 21st century.

(Article copyright Western Trips. Photos and images from the public domain)

The Montana Vigilantes and Henry Plummer / Bannack Montana

The Bannack Ghost Town is located in the picturesque area of southwestern Montana, twenty-four miles southwest of the town of Dillon and within Bannack State Park.

The park is about 20 miles west of Interstate-15 on State Hwy 278 and about 60 miles south of Butte Montana. If you're planning a Montana summer vacation, Bannack celebrates it's highly popular "Bannack Days" the third weekend of every July. The annual event is a celebration of pioneer days with great western events, good cooking and a fun and entertaining time for the whole family. There are dozens of historic buildings to explore and are considered by many to be the finest preserved buildings of any ghost town in America's old west.

Bannack State Park is a good addition to any Montana vacation planner. Following is an interesting tale of what occurred in Bannack in 1863-64. Bannack was one of the unique towns of Montana and it's on the U.S. Register of Historic Places.

Sheriff Henry Plummer

Henry Plummer

As is the case with all old west ghost towns there are some terrific stories to tell. The gold mining town of Bannack is no exception and is a big part of Montana history. What may be the most interesting story about Bannack is the story of Sheriff Henry Plummer.

Bannack Montana, established in 1862, started out as many Montana towns did in the region. It was a gold mining camp. What's also true of old gold mining towns, Bannack attracted it's share of characters..some hard working and honest and some who were not.

 Gold mining towns and regions meant money and money is what attracts outlaws. Sometimes it was easy pickings because the law enforcement was either weak or non existent. The vigilante was often used to enforce law and order. Nevertheless, people poured into the area as they did whenever rich ore was discovered.

As a result, the new town needed a sheriff and this is where Henry Plummer enters the picture. Plummer, born in 1832, became official sheriff of Bannack in May 1863. Since Montana Territory was not created until 1865, at the time Plummer took over as sheriff the town was in the Idaho Territory. There was a lot to Henry Plummer's story before he ever made to Montana.


At nineteen years of age the young Plummer set sail from new York to California via Panama. When he arrived in San Francisco he headed straight for the goldfields. Research show that Plummer headed to the wild Nevada City California, then a big boom town, and acquired a mine and ranch. The next thing we know he bought the Empire Bakery in Nevada City. Two years after that he was asked to run for town sheriff. He did and in 1856 Plummer was the only official lawman in the area for miles. After he won reelection in 1857, trouble was not far behind.

The Gunfights of Henry Plummer's Past

Bannack Ghost Town

Plummer was convicted in 1857 of shooting a man while having an affair with his wife. For this Plummer was sentenced to 10 years in San Quentin Prison in California.

 His confinement didn't last long. After many of Plummer's friends sent letters and petitions to the governor attesting to his good character, etc, Plummer was released in 1859. The tale is that the pardon was really granted for health reasons because Plummer allegedly suffered with tuberculosis.

Henry Plummer's troubles didn't end with the pardon. After his release in 1859  he subsequently shot and killed an inmate attempting to escape from San Quentin. He was tried and found innocent based on justifiable homicide but under the condition that he leave the state. As if this wasn't enough, Plummer traveled to the mining region of Washington State where he again was involved in a gunfight altercation where he came out ahead.

At this point Henry Plummer decided to head back east and during his trip he was persuaded to help a man in Montana protect his family from an anticipated Indian raid. The next stop on Plummer's journey took him to Bannack Montana where the gold mines were going full tilt. The problem however was that he found himself in a gunfight with his wife's previous suitor. The gunfight occurred in a saloon and there were many witnesses testifying that Plummer had been forced into the fight. With that behind him Plummer was asked to be town sheriff of Bannack and he took over the position in August 1863. I have found no research that indicates that the Bannack town folk knew much about Plummer's somewhat tarnished and volent past.

Trouble in Bannack

Courtesy chippee, CC License 2.0

Wherever Henry Plummer happened to be, trouble was usually pretty close. Within months of Plummer taking over the sheriff position in Bannack there were two stagecoach robberies and an attempted robbery of a freight caravan.

 In addition to this a man was murdered. It seems that the appointment of the town sheriff brought with it a crime wave. While Plummer was out of Bannack supposedly to guard a gold shipment several men got together in the nearby gold boom town of Virginia City Montana. There they formed a Vigilance Committee.

A Vigilance Committee is simply a group of private citizens who decide to administer law themselves. It is referred to as vigilantism. These men decided that things were just too out of control in the Montana gold country and they would apply what was known in the old west as the lynch law. The photo above right is of more abandoned buildings in the Bannack State Park.

Vigilance Committees were in place in many areas of the old west, particularly in mining regions where valuable shipments were made on a regular basis. As civilization increased and the courts and law enforcement agencies grew the need for them vanished.


How active was this new Vigilance Committee? In their first month they lynched twenty-four men. Their last lynching was Henry Plummer in January 1864, not even one year after he became sheriff. The vigilantes were quite busy and fast. Vigilance Committees had been around for a long time as the drawing below left depicts a Vigilance hanging in 1856 San Francisco. This would have been the period where characters from the gold rush would have drifted into San Francisco.

The Montana Vigilantes


Needless to say, the Montana Vigilante's became both an admired and feared group. Like many stories from the old west, historians differ in their interpretation of what the vigilante's did. One question that's frequently asked is..did they hang an innocent man?

Could a frenzied lynch mob really take the time to fully investigate? Skeptics would say..did they really care? 
Some contend that Henry Plummer was nothing but an innocent victim of a lynch mob. Others (mostly the committee)  felt that Plummer, even while being sheriff, was actually the leader of the outlaw group who did the robbing and killing.

For those taking the opinion that Plummer was innocent, they cite that he objected to the vigilante lynchings taking place while away and in so doing made the Vigilante Committee leader angry. Therefore he was lynched because of his sympathy for the accused and nothing more. Those historians accepting that Plummer was involved in the robberies and all the men hanged were including Plummer were guilty cite that with the lynchings of the alleged gang members and of Plummer himself, the crime spree came to an end. That fact cannot be disputed. Was Henry Plummer guilty? Let us know what you can uncover.

(Article copyright Western Trips. Photos and images from the public domain)

Pompeys Pillar and the Lasting Signature of William Clark

Pompeys Pillar National Monument is not only a scenic picture taking stop on your western U.S. road trip but it also offers the visitor an opportunity to see what physical remnants remain of the great American westward exploration and migration..



 Pompeys Pillar

Yellowstone Watershed,Courtesy Shannon1

Located in south central Montana, 28 miles east of Billings off Interstate-94, the sandstone butte which is Pompeys Pillar is one of the most famous sandstone buttes in America.

 It was a significant Lewis and Clark discovery. The Lewis and Clark Expedition from 1803-1806 was commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and was America's first exploration to the Pacific Coast.

Part of the expedition's goal was to ascertain the available resources in this region that had been acquired with the Louisiana Purchase. It was at this site that Captain William Clark carved his name in July of 1806 while returning from his expedition to the Oregon country. Today's western U.S. tourist can see the signature just as Clark etched it over 200 years ago. Actually, many other historic figures from the 1800's also observed the signature such as the famous steamboat pilot Captain Grant Marsh while maneuvering the steamboat Josephine up the Yellowstone River. Captain Marsh gained fame as the pilot of the steamboat Far West during the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Marsh set a speed record while returning down the Missouri with wounded cavalrymen.

Also, in 1873 Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer camped with his troops opposite the Pillar. The first official observation of Clark's signature was reportedly in 1863 by James Stuart, a Montana pioneer and prospector. In addition to the Native American pictographs and William Clark's signature there are hundreds of other initials carved into the rock including many early pioneers who journeyed by.

Independence Rock in Wyoming is another historic site with names and initials carved in during America's westward migration. Initials carved cover a wide variety of travelers including fur trappers, railroad workers, missionaries, army troops and settlers. At Pompeys Pillar, a walkway of about 200 steps takes you to the upper part of the tower where you can see Clark's original signature. The signature is preserved behind a brass and glass case to protect it from the effects of nature. Pompeys Pillar was and is a very impressive as William Clark's journal entry describes the site as “remarkable rock” with its “extensive view in every direction.

As many historians know, the Lewis and Clark journals describe the expedition very well. Among some very interesting Lewis and Clark journal entries is the group's encounter with Montana Grizzly Bears. While at first they noted how easy it was to bring down the giant animal with a rifle, later journal entries describe how the beast chased them into rivers and up trees.

Pompeys Pillar location at a natural ford on the Yellowstone River, along the Lewis and Clark route, and being the only major high outcropping in the area made Pompeys Pillar a popular landmark. Historians believe that native peoples have used Pompeys Pillar as an observation point for over 11,000 years.

Naming the Site

Clark's signature at Pompeys Pilla

William Clark originally named the site Pompeys Tower but the name was changed to Pompeys Pillar after Nicolas Biddle wrote an account of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Clark named the Pillar for young Baptiste Charbonneau who he had nicknamed "Pompy", the infant son of Sacagawea who was a Shoshoni woman accompanying the expedition. Lewis and Clark left few reminders on the land as they traveled west. William Clark’s engraved signature on Pompeys Pillar is one of them.

Land of the Crow Indians

For many centuries this rock outcropping which rises about 150 feet from the banks of the Yellowstone River served as an important landmark to the local native people. The Crow Indians used the Pillar as a prayer site. The Crow Indians called the Pillar the place where the Mountain Lion lives. There is a natural head of a lion in the sandstone on the north face of the Pillar. The Yellowstone Valley has long been considered the heart of Crow Country. Many historians believe that the original location of the Crow were at the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Some others think the Crows may have come from Manitoba. What is known is that they settled in southern Montana. The Crow were pushed westward by the influx of the Sioux. The Sioux themselves were pushed west by American westward migration.

A National Monument

Crow Indians, circa 1880

The organization which can be said was responsible for Pompeys Pillar becoming a National Monument was the Pompeys Pillar Historical Association. According to the Association, their mission statement is.. "To develop the historic potential of Pompeys Pillar National Monument, the site of the only remaining physical evidence on the trail of the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1803-1806". Another very interesting nearby site is Guernsey Lake State Historic Park in Wyoming where excellent remnants of Oregon Trail wagon wheel ruts can be seen.

The site was named a National Historic Landmark in 1965 and then became a National Historic Monument in 2001. Pompeys Pillar Interpretive Center opened it's doors in 2006. Exhibits on display in the 5,700 square foot center relate to the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the entire detachment.

Here you will find a very large amount of Lewis and Clark information. The Montana Lewis and Clark route is detailed very well at the interpretive center. The center also showcases native culture, flora and fauna. A side trip to Pompeys Pillar National Monument during your next western vacation would be a fun, low cost and highly educational stop for the entire family.


The monument is located northeast of Yellowstone National Park. Use exit 23 off Interstate-94. You can also reach Pompeys Pillar on State Hwy 312. It's a picturesque vacation stop with many good photo opportunities.

(Photos from the public domain)

Smokejumpers / The Dangers, History and Training / Missoula Montana

There are many dangerous jobs in this world and one of those is that of the Smokejumper. These are dedicated fighters of wildfires who put life and limb in harms way each and every time they are called for.

The top photo at left (courtesy of Dragomilof,CreativeCommons 3.0) shows a group of Smokejumpers heading to their aircraft for deployment.

On your next Montana vacation there is an excellent museum located in Missoula Montana that provides a great deal of information and displays explaining the hazards of this occupation as well as the invaluable service these brave people offer. The museum is located at the Aerial Fire Depot Missoula. Visitors will be taken on a tour which will include the Smokejumpers Loft and the Smokejumpers Memorial. Montana trips have much to offer. In addition to the Smokejumpers Museum you can visit Glacier Park Montana and West Yellowstone. Two great sites.

The Job of a Smokejumper



Fighting wildfires in remote regions of the western U.S. is what a Smokejumper does. This generally is in very remote terrain, very difficult to reach by any other means.

Employing a fleet of fixed wing aircraft, including a Turbine DC-3, Twin Otter, and a Shorts Sherpa, firefighters and paracargo operations can reach any location in the country. Areas that jumpers work in include everywhere from New Mexico to Alaska.

The photo at left shows a group of Smokejumpers dating back to 1949. There is also a unit called The Alaska Smokejumpers. They are part of the Alaska Fire Service and the Bureau of Land Management since 1959.  Being a part of the BLM, the Alaskan crews have also helped fight fires in the lower 48 states.   

Improvement in Fire Fighting Technology and Methods

Just like everything, wildfire fighting has improved technologically. Back in the 1800's and even during the first part of the twentieth century, firefighting seemed to be a secondary concern, taking a back seat to the natural instinct of escaping.

Both the Hinckley Minnesota Fire of 1894 and the Great Fires of 1910 in the Montana/Wyoming region were essentially efforts to escape the advancing flames. In both of these catastrophes people tried escaping by any means possible..trains, horses and by foot. In the case of Hinckley, trains were overtaken by the flames and many perished. Wildfires can become firestorms. This is what happened in Hinckley. A firestorm is a fire of such immensity that it develops it's own weather system. This is about as dangerous a fire as you can imagine with winds and speed very unpredictable.

Photo courtesy Alan Radecki, GNU Doc. Lic.

Today, one of the methods used to manage forest land is the "controlled burn". This is where  small fires are started intentionally and then put out to clear land to avoid a much larger uncontrolled wildfire.

The men and women of the Smokejumpers are also employed for these purposes. In today's modern times we also have aircraft tanker planes such as DC-10's, shown at right, that drop fire retardant  chemicals to help put out fires. As a comparison to the days back in 1910  durring the Great Fire when stopping a fire meant digging trenches to try to prevent it's advance, the technology has advanced at warp speed.

The History of Smokejumpers


Smoke Jumper history is quite interesting. Experiments were begun in 1939 with personnel from the Eagle Parachute Company from Lancaster Pennsylvania. This was done in the northern Cascades and today this area of the Matthew Valley is considered the birthplace of smokejumping.

While these tests went well there still was a reluctance to have people parachute into raging fires. This was a time when aviation itself was considered a risky business and to add people jumping out of airplanes into fires seemed just too risky. Many people in the government considered this akin to barnstorming. Eventually more tests were done using 150 pound weights on parachutes and after success with that the go ahead was received.

During World War Two, about 240 people from the Civilian Public Service Camps were trained as smoke jumpers at the McCall Smokejumpers Base in Missoula Montana. There was also a time when the U.S. Army utilized smoke jumping training facilities to help train their parachute airborne troops. The army later established facilities at Fort Benning Georgia. Another interesting fact is that the Russian Federation is considered to have the largest contingent of smoke jumpers in the world. Supposedly Russia's use of Smokejumpers dates back to the mid 1930's.

Smokejumper Training

 Yellowstone  practice jump 1975

Deaths of Smokejumpers are considered very rare. In the U.S. the best known fatalities occurred in the years 1949 and 1994.

Injuries from jumps do happen but it should be noted that a great deal of caution is exercised every time a jump is called for. The decision to jump or not to is many times a last minute decision based on a variety of factors. Wind direction and the fires path are carefully considered before the green light is issued.

Smokejumpers training is quite rigorous since you not only need superior firefighting skills but additionally you need to train as an athlete to avoid injury. As a result, the injuries and deaths for Smokejumpers are not anything different from those of ground based firefighters.

When a Smokejumper isn't fighting fires he or she  works to maintain  their equipment and has a daily physical workout regimen. A Smokejumper is required to be able to find their way around a forest using only a map and compass. Being a quick thinker and  being able to manage risk are two additional good attributes to possess. Smokejumpers clothing is heavily padded to avoid injury if landing in a tree. The aircraft drops equipment such as chain saws, axes, firefighting chemicals and potable water pumps which the Smokejumper then gathers on the ground.

Hollywood has added somewhat to the storied legend of the Smokejumper and the dangers ever present. The 1959 Smokejumpers movie "Red Skies Of Montana" was based on the 1949 Mann-Gulch Fire that claimed fifteen lives, thirteen of them being Smoke Jumpers. A popular novel by Nicholas Evans published in 2001 "The Smoke Jumper" also added to public awareness of these brave firefighters. Another interesting story is that of Edward Pulaski who developed the Pulaski Tool which is still used today by our nation's wildland firefighters.

Trips to Montana can be an exciting and fun experience. Another stop to put on your Montana vacation planner is the Pompeys Pillar Monument near Billings where you can see the etched signature of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Make certain to add the Smokejumpers Museum to your Montana travel planner. You'll be glad you did. Websites to help plan your vacation in Montana are below.


Smokejumpers Museum Missoula Montana

Livingston Montana Travel

Montana Official State Travel Site

(Article copyright Western Trips. Photos and images from the public domain)

A Steamboat And An Indian War

During the mid to latter part of the 1800's, travel by steamboat could be called a luxury. In the western U.S roads and trails were generally rough and rutted and there was always the danger of attacks from Indians or bandits. Steamboat travel was comparatively safer and most likely faster.

Many boats manufactured during this period were sidewheelers, paddle wheels on both sides of the boat. In fact, the sidewheelers were some of the first powered ocean vessels before the screw propeller mechanism was used.

The sidewheeler "Idaho" is pictured to the left. The other type built were sternwheelers with one paddle wheel at the stern. The picture below right is the steamboat "Far West", a sternwheeler launched in 1870 at Pittsburgh, PA. Prices in the 1870's averaged about $50,000-$60,000 for a new steamboat depending on size.



One obvious advantage with a sternwheeler was that it could navigate up a narrower river than the sidewheeler. The "Far West" was 190 ft. long with a 33 ft. beam.

It's amazing how far inland some of these sternwheelers could navigate and much of that credit belongs to a steamboat Captain by the name of Grant Marsh.

Starting out his career as a steamboat cabin boy, Marsh (pictured below right) had the reputation of being the most skilled captain on the Missouri River and a friend of Mark Twain. He is credited with taking steamboats the furthest up the Yellowstone River, a tributary of the Missouri in Montana. Some said Marsh could navigate a steamboat on dew alone. To give you an idea of the dangers of steam boating on the Missouri River, between 1819 and the very beginning of the 1900's, about 700 different boats plied the river with 300 of them eventually being wrecked.

The Steamboat and the Sioux Expedition to Montana

Our story begins here where the Department of the Army in 1876 contracted two steamboats, The "Far West" and the "Josephine" as part of the Terry/Custer expedition against the Sioux Indians. The expedition which included Col. George Armstrong Custer and his immediate superior Gen. Alfred H.Terry left Fort Abraham Lincoln located about 4 miles south of Bismark, ND in the middle of May and traveled west over the prairie.

The job of the two steamboats (most Indians referred to them as "fire canoes") were to ferry additional supplies for the expedition up the Missouri to Montana. A supply line is very important for any distant military undertaking and the fact that Fort Abraham Lincoln was directly on the Missouri River which upstream went west/northwest into Montana was an advantage. The river trip was about 700 miles.

After being fully loaded at the fort, the "Far West" departed in early June on it's trip up the Missouri to the mouth of the Powder River. It was there that General Terry (pictured below left) was to meet the boat and establish the supply camp. Upon reaching the Powder, Terry sent scouts ahead up to the Yellowstone River to locate the boat. The steamboat was already moored and upon hearing this Terry rode up to the Yellowstone.

The Expedition Headquarters

The general then decided to make the "Far West" his expedition headquarters. With Captain Grant Marsh at the helm Terry knew he would be able to go further up the Yellowstone as the ground troops moved parallel up the Powder.

Terry used the "Far West" as a staging area to begin  the assault on the Sioux village they assumed was somewhere to the south.

 He had Captain Marsh navigate up the Yellowstone to a point a few miles east of the mouth of the Rosebud River. Terry then called a meeting on the boat with Custer and other officers on the afternoon of June 21st. Maps were laid out and plans discussed and after a few hours the meeting adjourned. Everyone had their orders and Custer, who had his Dakota column camped on the nearby shore, rode out the next morning June 22nd.

At that point Gen. Terry had the "Far West" move further up the Yellowstone to the mouth of the Little Bighorn River. Captain Grant Marsh was probably the only boatman with the skill to continue that far up the Yellowstone. On the narrow river and everyone aware that  Sioux warriors were nearby, the "Far West"as a precaution moored on a sand bar in the middle of the river rather than on shore. The Sioux had a history of attacking boatmen.

After the troops had their orders and left the "Far West" on June 22nd, General Terry had very little information on the status of their march. What ensued was the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Most know that thiswas a disaster for the 7th Cavalry being vastly outnumbered by some 2,000-3,000 warriors.

Custer's immediate command was wiped out to the man and a nearby detachment of three companies suffered many killed. The picture to the left from the Denver Public Library depicts Custer's battle.


Scores of books have been written about the battle itself but what is also interesting is the role the steamboat "Far West" played in the aftermath. The boat was hired at $360/day to ferry the expeditions supplies up the Yellowstone. It was then ordered to become Terry's headquarters for the expedition. It's next duty was something totally unexpected. After confirmation of the disaster was received on June 30th Captain Marsh was ordered to prepare the boat for ambulance duty.

Marsh had grass put onboard covered with blankets to make an area for the wounded. Several days after the battle the wounded were arriving escorted by the Montana column. Fifty wounded soldiers were eventually put onboard and General Terry gave Marsh the order to return to Bismark/Fort Lincoln as quickly as possible.

A Record Was Made

What happened next was probably a speed record at it's time and one of the most remarkable exploits in steam boating.

The 400 ton "Far West" with it's wounded soldiers traveled safely some 750+ miles down the Missouri back to Fort Lincoln in about 54 hours. This can only be credited to Grant Marsh's skill. Once the boat reached Bismark on July 5th the news of the disaster spread rapidly and details were telegraphed east.

Nine days later the "Far West" and Marsh steamed back up the Missouri to the Little Bighorn with supplies and horses for the troops still there. I think we can say that the "Far West" served the army far and beyond the call of duty.


In the years following, the "Far West" continued it's travels on the Missouri until it was wrecked in 1883. Since the average lifespan of a steamboat was only about 5 years (due to the hazards of steamboating) , the "Far West" seemed to be fortunate.

 In a twist of irony, in 1883 the "Far West" was called upon to transport Sitting Bull, one of the leaders of the Sioux renegades in 1876, between two military forts after his return from Canadian exile.

Grant Marsh had a sixty year career piloting steamboats and died in Bismark in 1916 at age 83.

Another story I believe you'll find interesting is Custer's involvement years earlier in the Washita River Battle. This battle occurred in 1868 within the Indian Territory and had repercussions all the way to the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Another story we've published about the aftermath the Little Bighorn Battle is the significant army victory at the Battle of Slim Buttes in present day South Dakota. It's a very interesting story.

The sites below offer additional information on the "Far West" and Missouri steamboats.

www.time.com/time/magazine

www.westerncoversociety.com


The sites below are additional trip suggestions and information.


www.fortlincoln.com

www.fortwiki.com/Fort_Buford 


www.history.nd.gov/historicsites/buford


www.1856.com



(Article copyright Western Trips)